ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Competition Commission of India
CCI approves acquisition of Micro Life Sciences Private Limited by South Elm Investments B.V.
The Competition Commission of India  approves acquisition of Micro Life Sciences Private Limited by South Elm Investments B.V.
The proposed combination pertains to the proposed acquisition of minority stake in Micro Life Sciences Private Limited  by South Elm Investments B.V. .
SEI is an investment holding company incorporated under the laws of Netherlands. The shareholders of SEI are certain private equity funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC.
Target is a company incorporated in India, which is primarily engaged in the following business activities in India along with subsidiaries: manufacture and sale of  medical devices in various categories such as stents, Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty catheters, heart valves, orthopedic implants, and endo-surgery products ;  in-vitro diagnostics analyzers and reagents; and  over the counter  products like products COVID self-test kits and pregnancy test kits, in India. The Target  is engaged in the B2C sale of certain specialized medical devices  to hospitals and has research and development  facilities for in-vitro diagnostic, orthopedic, endo-surgery and cardiovascular solutions.
Detailed order of the CCI will follow.
Election Commission
4 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal to go to Poll on May 19 and 2 others on May 20, as a Part of Assembly Bye-election
Kolkata, May 17, 2019
Four Assembly constituencies of West Bengal will go for poll as a part of Bye-election on May 19, 2019 . These constituencies are Darjeeling, Islampur, Habibpur  and Bhatpara. Two others, i.e., Kandi and Nowda will go for poll next day, i.e., May 20, 2019 .These Assembly seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs resigned following their nomination to contest Lok Sabha poll. Islampur Assembly seat falls under Raigunj Lok Sabha constituency, whereas Kandi and Nowda are under Baharampur Paliamentary constituency in the district of Murshidabad. Habibpur falls under Malda Uttar PC and Bhatpara under Barrackpur PC.
Darjeeling and Raigunj went for Lok Sabha poll in the second phase of General Election, 2019 on April 18, 2019. Baharampur went for Lok Sabha poll in the fourth phase of election on April 29, 2019. Malda Uttar went for poll in the third phase of election on April 23, 2019, whereas, Barrackpur PC went for poll in the fifth phase of poll on May 6, 2019. The campaign for Darjeeling, Islampur, Habibpur  and Bhatpara Assembly constituencies ended at 6 pm today. Campaigning for Kandi and Nowda will end tomorrow at 6 pm.
The polling for these seats will start at 7 am and continue till 6 pm. The Chief Electoral Officer’s Office, West Bengal has taken adequate measures to have free and fair election in these seats.
Ministry of Communications
Government revamps jobs on compassionate ground for Gramin Dak Sevaks
Dependents of GDS to get benefit within 3 months
Department of Posts has revamped the existing compassionate engagement scheme offered to the dependent family members of Gramin Dak Sevak. A GDS who dies in harness, the dependents of such GDS will benefit from a liberalized and time bound procedure for engagement on compassionate grounds. Henceforth, any death of a Gramin Dak Sevak while on engagement would be compensated by a compassionate engagement to a dependent family member irrespective of the circumstances or indigence. Upper age limit of the applicant could also be relaxed wherever found to be necessary. Thus the new scheme of compassionate engagement will provide greater relief to the members of the family of the deceased GDS who belong to weaker and poorer sections of the society and are thrown into penury and hardship.
The ambit of dependent family member has also been expanded to include:
•Married son living with parents and dependent for livelihood on the GDS on the date of death of the GDS
•Divorced daughter wholly dependent on the GDS at the time of death of the GDS
•Daughter in law of the deceased GDS who is wholly dependent on the GDS, if the only son of the GDS is pre deceased.
This expansion of definition of family members aims to bring greater relief to women in our society who are subjected to difficult circumstances in the unfortunate event of demise of their spouse/parent.
The present system of relative merit points to ascertain the degree of indigence has been dispensed with. Keeping in view the unique and distinct service conditions, socio economic aspects and to relieve the family from financial destitution, the time consuming process of consideration by Circle Relaxation Committee has been done away with. Henceforth, a request received for compassionate engagement would be considered and decided within three months from the date of receipt of the application.
Further to ensure least displacement, it has been decided that to the extent possible, compassionate engagement would be offered to the dependent of the deceased GDS, to a GDS post near the place where the family of the deceased normally resides.
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Finance Commission
The Fifteenth Finance Commission meets representatives of Trade and Industry in Karnataka
The 15th Finance Commission headed by Chairman, Shri N.K. Singh alongwith its Members and senior officials met today with the representatives of the Trade and Industry in Karnataka.
The Commission observed that:
i) Growth rate of GSDP  of Karnataka has fluctuated widely from 2012-13 to 2018-19, compared to GDP  of India.
ii) Share of tertiary sector in GSVA  of Karnataka is highest amongst all southern states.
iii) Main drivers of tertiary sector in the State are IT and ITeS. Karnataka is home to the 4th largest technology cluster in the world.
iv) Bengaluru is known as the start-up capital of India and it is reported that nearly 30% of the start-ups in the country are from Bengaluru .
v) In the Ease of Doing Business Rankings, Karnataka was ranked 8th, amongst all states, in 2017.
vi) Manufacturing sector in the state majorly comprises automobile, aerospace, textile & garment, biotech, heavy engineering and agro industries.
Further, as informed by the Pr. AG Karnataka, in 2018-19, there was GST revenue shortfall of Rs. 12,407.75 crore as compared to the protected revenue, which is more than 23% shortfall.
As per State’s Memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission, the initiatives undertaken by State Government to promote Investment include:
- Karnataka is first State in the country to roll out multi sector start up policy for 2015-2020 aiming towards a globally competitive start up eco system. The objective is to set-up 20,000 technology start-ups by 2020.
- Karnataka Udyog Mitra  is a single contact point for all investors who are looking at setting up enterprises/business in state. Its role is to facilitate investments to enable a smooth transition from the stage of receiving investment proposals to the eventual implementation of the project.
The 15th Finance Commission observed:
- State needs to provide enhanced impetus to development of manufacturing sector, which, in turn, would calibrate its overdependence on IT / ITeS sector, thereby, reducing concentration risk to growth.
- In general, districts of north Karnataka are relatively backward compared to south Karnataka.
The Commission further noted all the concerns highlighted by the representatives of the Karnataka Trade and Industry and promised to address them in its recommendations to the Central Government.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
MoU signed between NHIDCL and NIT Silchar
National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd , a CPSE under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has signed MoU with NIT, Silchar on 26th October, 2022 for seeking and promoting innovative technologies to find pragmatic solutions to the challenges posed in the construction of highways facing extreme climatic conditions. The MoU was signed between Prof. Sivaji Bandyopadhyay , Director, NIT Silchar and Shri Chanchal Kumar, Managing Director, NHIDCL.
NHIDCL has signed Memorandum of Understandings with prestigious institutes like, CSIR-CRRI, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT Patna, NIT Srinagar, NIT Agartala and NSDC during the current year 2022-23. NHIDCL has previously signed MoUs with IIT Bombay & IIT Guwahati and is in further discussions with other IITs, NITs for signing of such MoUs.
Ministry of Defence
Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff Celebrates its 20th Raising Day
Integrated Defence Staff celebrated its 20th Raising Day today, the 01 October 2020. On this occasion, the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, extended his warm felicitations to all members of the Tri Services Fraternity and their Families.
Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff, popularly known as HQ IDS, was raised on 01 October 2001. Tasked to promote Jointness among the Armed Forces and ensure better coordination with Ministry of Defence and other Departments & Ministries, HQ IDS has over the last 19 years, synergised the efforts of the Armed Forces in promoting national endeavours in key fields such as security, modernisation, jointness and military diplomacy, to name a few. The creation of the Department of Military Affairs  and institution of the Chief of Defence Staff  in the past year are major milestones that have provided the much needed impetus to the transformation of the Armed Forces and their integration in the Higher Defence Organisation of the Nation. HQ IDS remains at the forefront of multiple initiatives aimed at furthering the integration and jointness among the Services and thus living upto its motto “Victory Through Jointness”.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries
TARGETS UNDER PMKSY
The ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana ’ is a demand driven scheme and Expressions of Interest  are issued from time to time under its sub-schemes for inviting proposals from prospective entrepreneurs/ investors from all over the country. Entities like State Government Organizations/ PSUs/ Joint Ventures/ NGOs/ Cooperatives/ Self Help Groups / FPOs/ Private Sector Companies/ Partnership firm’s/ Proprietorship firms etc. are eligible for submitting their proposals as per guidelines of various sub-schemes of PMKSY for availing financial assistance in form of grants-in-aid for setting up food processing facilities.
A total fund of Rs. 4099.76 crore has been allocated for the period from 2017-18 to 2022-23 under various sub-schemes of PMKSY namely  Mega Food Park Scheme,  Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Processing Clusters,  Creation/ Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities Scheme,  Scheme for Creation of Backward Forward Linkages,  Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Additional Infrastructure and  Operation Greens Scheme. Out of this allocated amount, Rs. 3312.63 crore has been released in form of grants-in-aid for setting up food processing industries under various schemes. Under above-mentioned sub-schemes of PMKSY, in total, 1098 projects have been approved with grants-in-aid of Rs. 8117.00 crore for setting up food processing industries. The State-wise number of such projects approved are at Annexure-I.
The budgetary allocation for Production Linked Incentive  and expenditure for the last three years are as under:

|
|
Financial Year
|
|
Budget Estimates 
|
|
Revised Estimates 
|
|
Actual Expenditure
|
|
2020-21
|
|
NIL
|
|
NIL
|
|
NIL
|
|
2021-22
|
|
NIL
|
|
10.00
|
|
9.27
|
|
2022-23
|
|
1022
|
|
801
|
|
124.19 
ANNEXURE-I
ANNEXURE REGARDING “TARGETS UNDER PMKSY”
State/UT Wise number of proposals approved for assistance under PMKSY
|
|
STATES / UTs
|
|
Number of Sanctioned Projects
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
71
|
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
|
12
|
|
Assam
|
|
51
|
|
Bihar
|
|
14
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
|
9
|
|
Goa
|
|
1
|
|
Gujarat
|
|
91
|
|
Haryana
|
|
43
|
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
|
46
|
|
Karnataka
|
|
48
|
|
Kerala
|
|
30
|
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
|
45
|
|
Maharashtra
|
|
193
|
|
Manipur
|
|
6
|
|
Meghalaya
|
|
4
|
|
Mizoram
|
|
4
|
|
Nagaland
|
|
8
|
|
Odisha
|
|
14
|
|
Punjab
|
|
52
|
|
Rajasthan
|
|
50
|
|
Sikkim
|
|
1
|
|
Tamil Nadu
|
|
71
|
|
Telangana
|
|
31
|
|
Tripura
|
|
6
|
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
|
75
|
|
Uttarakhand
|
|
55
|
|
West Bengal
|
|
32
|
|
Andaman
|
|
2
|
|
Chandigarh
|
|
0
|
|
D&N Haveli
|
|
1
|
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
|
30
|
|
Pudduchery
|
|
1
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
1098
This information was given by Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister pays tributes to Guru Ravidas on his Jayanti
Prime Minister pays tributes to Guru Ravidas on his Jayanti
(The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Guru Ravidas on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
“I bow to Guru Ravidas Ji on the special occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti. His pure thoughts and ideals have a profound impact on society.
Guru Ravidas Ji emphasised on values of harmony, equality and compassion, which are central to India’s culture and ethos.”, the Prime Minister said.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT TO RE-INTRODUCE CHEETAH TO INDIA FROM SOUTH AFRICA CONCLUDED
The Republic of South Africa and the Republic of India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Re-introduction of Cheetah to the Asian country. In terms of the agreement, an initial batch of 12 cheetahs are to be flown from South Africa to India during February 2023. The cats will join eight cheetah introduced to India from Namibia during 2022.
Restoring cheetah populations is considered to be a priority for India and will have vital and far-reaching conservation consequences, which would aim to achieve a number of ecological objectives, including re- establishing the function role of cheetah within their historical range in India and improving the enhancing the livelihood options and economies of the local communities. Following the import of the 12 cheetah in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years.
The initiative to reintroduce cheetah to a former range state following the local extinction of this iconic species due to over hunting and loss of habitat in the last century is being carried out following the request received from the government of the Republic of India. This multi-disciplinary international programme is being coordinated by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment  in collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute , South African National Parks , the Cheetah Range Expansion Project, and the Endangered Wildlife Trust  in South Africa together with the National Tiger Conservation Authority  and the Wildlife Institute of India .
The Memorandum of Understanding  on Reintroduction of Cheetah to India facilitates cooperation between the parties to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India; promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity built, to promote cheetah conservation. This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and translocation of wildlife and community participation in conservation in the two countries. In terms of the MoU, the countries will collaborate and exchange best practices in large carnivore conservation through the transfer of technology, training of professionals in management, policy, and science, and to establish a bilateral custodianship arrangement for cheetah translocated between the two countries.
The terms of the MoU will be reviewed every five years to ensure it remains relevant.
For media requests contact:
Albi Modise, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa, on +27 83 490 2871 Dr. S. P. Yadav, Additional Director  & Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change .
Ministry of Civil Aviation
During last seven years, 6 more airports have been constructed/ declared as international airports
There were 24 international airports in the country before 2014. During last seven years, 6 more airports have been constructed/ declared as international airports.
During the last seven years, four Greenfield airports namely, Kannur in Kerala, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Mopa in Goa have been constructed as international airports. In addition, two existing airports namely, Vijayawada and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh were declared as international airports in the year 2017.
After repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation market was deregulated. Consequently, airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type for selecting whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate across the country subject to compliance with the extant guidelines in this regard. Thus, it is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and their commercial viability, in compliance with the extant guidelines.
Moreover, as far as matter of international flight services from these airports is concerned, Indian carriers are free to mount services from any point in India to foreign destinations as per the respective bilateral air services arrangements. Foreign airlines can operate on designated points of call available under the bilateral arrangements.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen.  V. K. Singh  in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Testing of Genetically Modified Crops
There is a well established regulatory framework for approval of Genetically Modified  crops as per “Rules for the Manufacture/Use/Import/Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms, Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989” under the Environment  Act, 1986 in the Country.
Evaluation of each application of GM crop is done mandatorily on a case-to-case basis after a thorough examination of health, environment, food and feed safety assessment studies undertaken in a systematic and scientific manner as per prescribed guidelines, manuals and standard operating procedures stipulated by various regulatory agencies under the Rules, 1989 from time to time. The data generated by the applicants is reviewed at every step in the development process of GM crops by various Statutory Committees under the Rules, 1989 such as Institutional Biosafety Committee, Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation and Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee.
A series of guidelines and protocols have been issued by Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change relating to Genetically Modified Organisms and product thereof as under:
- Recombinant DNA Safety Guidelines, 1990
- Revised Guidelines for Research in Transgenic Plants, 1998
- Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Genetically Engineered Plants, 2008
- Guidelines for the monitoring of Confined Field Trials of Regulated, Genetically Engineered  Plants, 2008
- Standard Operating Procedures  for Confined Field Trials of Regulated, Genetically Engineered  Plants, 2008
- Protocol for Food and Feed Safety Assessment of GE crops, 2008
- Guidelines and Handbook for Institutional Bio-safety Committees , 2011
- Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants: A Guide for Stakeholders, 2016
- Guidelines for the Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants, 2016.
- Risk Analysis Framework, 2016.
-
This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
Cabinet
Cabinet approves regularisation of Pay Scales of below Board Level Executives in NHPC Ltd., North East Electric Power Corporation, THDC India Ltd. and SJVN Ltd. w.e.f. 1.1.97
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for regularization of Pay scales of below Board Level Executives in National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. , North East Electric Power Corporation , THDC India Ltd.  and Satluj Jal Vidhyut Nigam Ltd. , w.e.f. 01.01.1997 adopted by them consequent upon the orders of Ministry of Power dated 04.04.2006 and 01.09.2006.
Implementation strategy:
After the approval, the pay scales adopted by Hydro CPSEs consequent upon the order of the Ministry of Power dated 04.04.2006 and 01.09.2006 shall be regularized.
Impact:
About 5,254 Executives of Hydro CPSEs enrolled before 01.01.2007 will be benefitted by this approval. It will motivate and boost the morale the Executives of Hydro CPSEs,
Expenditure:
The total expenditure to the tune of Rs. 323 crore will be incurred for the regularisation of pay scales.
Background:
Anomalies existed in the pay scales of Executives of NHPC, NEEPCO, THDCIL and SJVNL w.e.f. 01.01.1997 due to revision of pay scales of unionized category of workmen/non-executives in line with the NTPC/Oil sector within the organizations. The pay scales of workmen and Supervisors were higher than the pay scale of Executives in the E-1 grade.
The proposal was earlier considered by the Committee of Secretaries  and the Cabinet on several occasion. The Cabinet in December, 2013 decided as below:
- The deviant pay scales fixed w.e.f. 01.01.1997 shall not be regularized.
- However, no recovery shall be made for the excess pay drawn from 01.01,1997onwards considering the difficulties in effecting recovery and also considering thatsuch a recovery may de-motivate the staff.
- The pay scales shall be fitted w.e.f. 01.01.2007 after correcting the aberration in payscales fixed w.e.f. 01.01.1997.
Aggrieved with the order, various Employee Associations of Hydro PSEs filed Writ Petitions in different High Courts. The High Court of Uttarakhand&Meghalaya quashed the above decision. SLP was filed in Supreme Court on-12.04.2017 against the judgment of High Court of Uttarakhand which was dismissed on 08.05.2017. A Contempt petition has been filed in the High Courts of Meghalaya and Uttarakhand. Ministry of Power is left with no option other than seeking approval of Cabinet for regularizing the pay scales of NHPC, SJVNL, NEEPCO and THDCIL w.e.f. 01.01.1997 adopted by them consequent upon the orders of Ministry of Power dated 04.04.2006 and 01.09.2006.